Man facing gun, drug charges escapes

STAFF REPORT

CAMPBELL — Police said a Coitsville Road man arrested on drug and gun charges escaped from St. Elizabeth Health Center after being taken there for a leg problem.

David A. Pope, 50, remained at large Saturday afternoon, police said.

An officer on patrol spotted Pope driving a car south on 12th Street around 4 p.m. Friday and knew that Pope’s driver’s license had been suspended. Further, the registration plates on Pope’s car didn’t match his vehicle, police said.

The officer stopped Pope in a parking lot at 12th Street and Roosevelt Drive and said Pope got out of his car and began pulling hypodermic needles out of his pants pocket.

Pope was arrested for possession of drug-abuse instruments, and police said the officer then found additional drug paraphernalia and more than 50 pills of four types of prescription medication in an unmarked bottle in one of Pope’s pockets.

He also found a loaded .25-caliber handgun and more than $1,000 cash in Pope’s back pocket and a loaded 12-gauge shotgun in the trunk of Pope’s car.

Once at the police station, Pope complained of a pre-existing condition with his leg, and an ambulance was called to take him to the hospital.

Police said they placed a hold on Pope with the hospital police department, but that Pope apparently walked out of the hospital sometime around midnight.